Urgency Confirmed

The Leader of the House's office has confirmed that the House will be going into urgency to clear a backlog of legislation. However Roger Sowry is said to be hopeful that there will be a normal sitting day on Thursday.

The Scoop could not confirm the exact details of the legislation covered but it is believed to include the introduction of gun control legislation and new legislation concerning logging issues.

Other items likely to be pushed through include the third reading of the Criminal Justice Amendment Bill, the second readings of the Fisheries Amendment Bill, Maori Purposes Bill, Ngati Tarangitukua Claims Settlement Bill and the committee stages of Education (Te Aho Matua) Amendment Bill and the Child Support Amendment Bill (No. 5).

The three week session is also likely to include reforms to the Resource Management Act, electricity sector regulation and liberalisation of the liquor laws.

The last possible sitting day of the House is October 28 after this three week session, there is a three week break before a four week session. The House is then due to sit on October 5 and is likely to sit through until the 28th, giving the House a maximum of ten weeks sitting time excluding the use of urgency.

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